+ ADHD in Women
ADHD impacts both men and women, however gender stereotypes has led to many young girls and women going undiagnosed and their difficulties not accurately recognised, which creates a barrier to appropriate treatment and understanding.
Women have often been diagnosed with other emotionally based psychiatric disorders such as mood disorder or anxiety and the ADHD that underpins the emotional impulsivity has often been overlooked.
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According to DSM 5th edition, ADHD symptoms fall into three subtypes: predominantly hyperactive, predominantly inattentive, and combined type with the inattentive type being most common in girls and women. This is characterised by being disorganised, daydreaming, finding it hard to make decisions, feeling overwhelmed, starting but struggling to complete a task, and taking longer to process information.
